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Part 5 Cinematography - Visual Analysis
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Part 5 - Cinematography - Visual Analysis
That’s the power of editing.
By simply putting two shots next to each other, we can imply that the spaces in each shot are related, even if they are not on the same planet!
Editing can also emphasize action that takes place in separate locations.
Parallel editing, or crosscutting, is when two spaces are edited together to suggest two events are happening simultaneously.
Many films use cross cutting to show two separate actions that are meant to be perceived happening simultaneously.
The audience can travel from the classroom to Mars in one easy cut.
If we were to film one shot of you walking out the door from inside the classroom, then cut to a shot of you walking out of a spaceship, it will seem like this room is the inside of that spaceship, right?
Hitchcock’s 1951 Strangers on a Train particularly the scenes in which Bruno and Guy are racing to the carnival, illustrates a perfect example of this:
The editor, under direction from the director, chooses the order in which we will see the events unfold on screen.
Some films depict events in chronological order - the order in which they actually occur in time. It is a “lived” experience for the audience.
A Word or Two About Time
The unique function of editing also gives the editor the ability to manipulate time.
An editor may alter the order of events, the duration of a specific event, and may increase or decrease the frequency of when we see an event.
One thing happens, then the next thing, then the next.
There are times, however, when an editor opts to show the narrative events out of order.
The most common example is referred to as a flashback, when an event that has happened previously in the character’s life (onscreen or inferred) is shown during a present event.
Thus, flashbacks help fill in backstory, trigger memory, and so on.
A much rarer option for reordering story events is the flash-forward.
Unlike flashbacks that move from the present to the past and then back again, flash-forward moves from the present to some future event and then returns to the present.
This type of manipulation is most common in science fiction films.
There are also instances when a film depicts a character’s vision of the future, even though these visions are not actual events but merely suppositions of a possible future.